BfN Team working on Skate 4 - BfN cancelled over 4 MONTHS ago?

[shurikeninja]

@Iron_Guard8 I think, like @benn1nat0r said, that the BFN cancellation stuff happened around June, when Skate was revealed. Some BFN devs probably knew before that time, that they'd be the ones making it. They kept making new content though (leaked legendary upgrades). But because BFN didn't do too well, by June it was probably decided that September would be the last content update, which is why after June we stopped getting new leaked content (besides stuff like Super Bean and Wildflower).

[shurikeninja]

Kind of annoying that this game will probably be marketed better and will probably also launch as a finished game, not like how BFN was in October. Sigh. Well, that's a wrap I guess. I can only hope that several years from now, these guys come back and we see a message like this one: "the studio has recently embarked on bringing a beloved and revered IP back to life." for PvZ shooters.

[benn1nat0r]

@Shadowphinx101 That’s true. Shaun Laker and a few others are working on Apex Legends. Some are working at other EA teams apparently and a few are working for other companies. Those who remain at Motive Vancouver appear to be working on Skate,

@shurikeninja I agree, hopefully a studio can do some embarking for us soon,

[Shadowphinx101]

@shurikeninja I feel the reason that BFN was rushed and unfinished (and imo why we actually had a founders' edition) is really because of us as a community. We were the ones (not directly but the whole community) that leaked the Picnic Alpha, whilst EA should've handled it better, and an insider leaked the trailer. BFN was doomed from the start, not because of the devs, but because of the community's stupidity and complete urge to get a new shooter. The devs probably had to rush the game because these leaks were getting major, and I doubt they ever wanted a Founders' edition. In my opinion, Founders' was a chance to release the game but also touch-up and finish some extras that weren't completed. And it went downhill like that. BFN wasn't the problem, it was the lead-up to Founders' that made the downfall.

[Iron_Guard8]

What really saddens me about this is that when they first went quiet, it was possible that they were going to try to do what's happening with Anthem; another EA title that released too early and performed badly in sales and player retention. That's what I was hoping for back then. I just saw a YouTube news briefing about that exact thing which is why I posted this now. While I have no data to compare how well the 2 games performed, neither appears to have been what one could call a runaway success.

@Shadowphinx101there have been a lot of leaks for BfN, going back a long ways. I remember some leaks on Reddit and some of the YouTube channels even before the Picnic alpha (which being a PC player I wasn't a part of). And then it just got to epidemic proportions after launch. I never actually thought about the leaks causing this much damage though. They did add some content to GW2 later on (the costumes for Torchwood and Hovergoat that also heralded the costume system of BfN, and Wall-Nut Hills), so I get the feeling that things were taking too long and they wanted to get it out in a sudden hurry. I was eager for a new PvZ shooter but I would've gladly waited for months or even longer if it meant we got a better end product with more content, better core functionality, and a better economy.

[shurikeninja]

@Shadowphinx101 I doubt that was it. Founders was just something that EA wanted to test out, from what I remember. Obviously it didn't go too well. They should've just done normal Open/Private Beta tests, that way the game release would have much more hype.

Looking back on it though, I don't know what release date they should've picked honestly. November and January don't work. September is actually a good month for it. I suppose December could've worked. Or they should've put development on Weirding Woods and Mount Steep on hold, and instead release them as 500 Rainbow Star packs through 2020, and release the main game as $30 instead of $40. That way they'd actually have the development time to release BFN in a finished state.

[benn1nat0r]

@Shadowphinx101 & @shurikeninja 

Apparently, a community testing release was planned from the beginning. The leaks might have sped things up a bit, but they didn't create the situation. Included below is a screenshot from Shaun Laker's twitter page. This happened after the announcement of the surprise GW2 update in 2018. When asked he said it would only be tested internally, but he also said that they loved what EA was doing with CTE. I didn't know what that meant at first and from my research on the topic I learned that in the context of games, CTE means "Community Testing Environment". They were planning on using the community as testers to improve the game in "future releases" a.k.a BfN

[benn1nat0r]

And here's the final piece of confirmation we needed. A screenshot from Shaun laker's twitter page (again ).

He said he an extended vacation and moved to Respawn "several months ago". This confirms that BfN was indeed cancelled during the time several months back when the devs first went radio silent. This strengths my believe that EA wanted to wait until the first anniversary with the announcement to eliminate the backlash and hide this sad truth.

Despite all the bad news, Happy Lawn of Doom everyone.

Yours truly,

Chief Investigating Acorn Officer

@benn1nat0r 

[benn1nat0r]

I just remembered this:

"This announcement may change as we listen to community feedback and continue developing and evolving our Live Service & Content."

Remember this beautiful, hope-inducing sentence?

Apparently, that was just a lie. The statement was included in both the September blog post and the forum post expanding on it.

They cancelled the game months ago and still made us believe we could have an impact and get them to continue development.

[TheSprinter85]

Well, that is not great if the game was actually planned to be cancelled all this time ago. There is something that could make up for all of this: another shooter. I solely believe that the community deserves better then this. However, EA believed that they had made the right decision. What I would have liked to see, is it then community actually had a chance to make a difference. Another shooter, which I would hope takes some of the better aspects of BFN, but also keeps it fairly GW style, I would say, would keep the community happy. We have heard news of the PvZ Franchise indeed continuing, but are we going to see another shooter? I would soon at least like to hear that EA plans on making another shooter. How would they, from another studio? Different devs? After a wait? I do not mind, but I would, along with the community no doubt, like to see another PvZ Shooter in the future!